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Changing Spaces
Opening Up a Closed Kitchen
By Cassandra Wentworth
Fred Liesong loves to cook. Sometimes,
he likes to watch TV while doing so.
Occasionally, he likes to chat with friends
at the same time. And, as he makes his
meals, he likes to have everything he needs
at arm’s length.
To help this multi-tasker create the ideal
kitchen, Fred and Jean Liesong enlisted the
help of TJ Bush Enterprises Inc. of
Bridgeville. The transformation started with
a single hammer swing. A wall separating
the old kitchen and family room of the
South Fayette home had to go.
“We’d been talking about redoing the
kitchen, and we finally wanted to indulge,”
says Fred, who is friends with company
owners Todd and Judy Bush. “We were
sitting here one night, and I asked Todd
what he thought was behind that wall. So he
ran out and got a hammer and put a hole
through it.”
It turned out that there was nothing in
the wall preventing its removal. Renovations
started that moment. Prior to the wall
coming down, the couple couldn’t carry on a
conversation while one was cooking and the
other was watching TV. And if the person
cooking wanted to catch a show, the volume
had to be cranked way up.
“Then the person in the living room
would suffer,” says Jean.
After that first hammer hole was made,
Bush’s crew gutted the entire space, giving
them a blank canvas with which to rebuild.
They filled that canvas with a roomy yet
functional kitchen, a dining area and a cozy
family room, all of which flow seamlessly
into one another.
Now, when Fred cooks either at the
stainless steel range or at the prep sink on
the kitchen’s wide island, he can access
everything he needs, from the two hidden
garbage cans, to the pots and pans on the
large island’s exposed shelf. When it’s time
for cleanup, the sink is above the
dishwasher, which is just below an exposed
cabinet, meaning everything flows from one
to another without the cleaner having to
move a foot.
The couple’s décor taste lands
somewhere between a Mediterranean
influence, as evidenced by the home’s warm
hues and open-air bistro feel, and
Southwestern style, shown through accents
of lizard-shaped wall-hangings and brightly
colored plates.
The uniquely textured walls stretching
from the kitchen to the living area were
inspired by those in the back room of
Burgh’s Pizza and Wings in Bridgeville.
The couple loved the skip trowel finish of
the restaurant, and incorporated it into
their own home, complete with a faux
finish paint job in a warm tan shade.
“It’s the details that make a job like this
nice,” says Bush, pointing out the subtle
lighting in the exposed cabinets and a shelf
matching the cabinets that is recessed into
the wall.
In the kitchen, the pale cream cabinets
are airbrushed and are accented with dark
hardware, creating an antique effect. The
large island (a priority for the couple)
invites guests to sit and enjoy a glass of
wine while their meal is being prepared.
The living room’s focus is a unique
fireplace, with a mantle made of
compressed wood painted gray, giving it
the appearance and texture of concrete.
The effect is repeated along a recessed
archway above the fireplace. The final
touch is an updated lighting system, which
allows the couple to choose among four
options, from bright everyday light to a
subdued evening effect.
And of course, the TV is in perfect
view of anyone working in the kitchen.
“We absolutely love it,” Jean says. “It
was exactly what we wanted, and it’s not
often you get exactly what you want.”
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